Max and the Junkmen (1971)
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 330
Movie Info
Claude Sautet's elegant and sophisticated crime drama stars the great Michel Piccoli as Max, a Paris detective hellbent on justice at any cost after watching one too many wily criminals slip through his fingers. Following a chance encounter with Abel (Bernard Fresson), an Army buddy now working as a scrap collector (most of whose "scrap" just happens to be stolen), Max decides to lure Abel and his gang into committing a bank robbery ... so that he can then catch them red-handed. So Max poses as
Cast
-
Michel Piccoli
Max -
Romy Schneider
Lily -
François Périer
Rozinsky -
Bernard Fresson
Abel -
Michel Creton
Henri-Jacques Huet -
-
Philippe Leotard
Losfeld -
Georges Wilson
Commissioner -
Maurice Auzel
Tony
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All Critics (3) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (0)
Has the matter-of-fact look and careful pace of a precinct-house procedural.
Top CriticThe deep cynicism would be depressing if it weren't so riveting.
Regarding Michel Piccoli's Max, Claude Sautet's film resists judgment, neither condoning nor signposting the despicable nature of his choices.
Audience Reviews for Max and the Junkmen
Super Reviewer
The story itself takes awhile to get going, the first 30 minutes is basically setting up the story and could come from any routine crime film of the seventies. Once Romy Schneider enters the picture however things start to pick up. Schneider and Piccoli really play off each other well, and as another review here says the best scenes in the film are the ones where they are simply sitting having conversations together. All this leads up to a nice little twist at the end.
Worth watching if you can come across it.
Super Reviewer
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Movie: ID: 770684326 Title: Max and the Junkmen Release Date: 2012-08-10 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 6 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Max and the Junkmen (Max et les ferrailleurs) (DE)
- Max and the Junkmen (Max et les ferrailleurs) (UK)
"Max and the Junkmen" is a compelling movie that moves at its own idiosyncratic rhythm. At the same time, its deliberate pace does allow for suspense to build nicely towards the film's climax. In fact, it is a rather deceptive movie in that it is something of a reverse caper. Consumed by his obsession to catch criminals, not prevent crime, Max acts like a criminal, not by planting evidence or something similar. He is running a long con by making the mark think they are making the decisions when in fact he is pulling all of the strings. In its own topsy turvy way, the movie does not side with its police protagonist but with the gang who only seem dangerous to themselves. This is in a world where most of the characters have military experience in colonial wars.